Dear Friends,It has been rather a full week! It is good to be able to resume our Eucharist at 11am at St Mary’s this week, and to hold a service at Barbrook (also 11am and with a Covid safe numbers limit of 15) to prepare to mark Jesus’ birth with readings and music, as we enter further into our journey through Advent. This week we light the candle for the prophets of God and the Old Testament reading from Isaiah say “Comfort my people”. Whether you are at home or in church may you know that the message of God’s comforting love is addressed to you.We are learning to adapt to the best laid plans changing, aren’t we? The briefing to guide our planning for Christmas was delayed from last week to this coming week, so I have not got news of what we can definitely do yet. There will be much communication in the coming week – and I hope I can give you more clarity next week.One simple way to be of help to our community: if you have any surplus “bag for life”-strength carrier bags, could you consider passing them on to the local community emergency hub at the Lynton Town Hall (the old tourist information office). If you can drop them in on a Saturday morning they would be gratefully received.God blessSamantha
Dear Friends, As you know, Marilyn Sanders is with us for the final year of her formation for ministry. I am delighted to be able to announce that she will serve her title at St Andrew's, Cullompton where they will also receive that news today. We keep Marilyn and her family in our prayers during this time of learning and preparation (grateful for all that she is sharing with us) and we pray for the clergy and people of St Andrews as they anticipate her arrival. God bless Samantha
Dear Friends,Blessings for the new Church year and a holy Advent!As I have been reflecting on anticipation of this very different December, I have become aware that the sense of waiting and uncertainty and the hopes arising for a better future which are part of our daily news connect with the deep themes of the Advent season. These deep themes run through Advent miusic and readings and traditions - especially that of lighting the candles of the Advent Wreath to remember the stories of our ancestors in faith as they longed for change in their own generations. Over the next weeks I hope to explore these connections, so we can bring all that we are feeling, with honesty, into our life of faith and prayer. You might like to creat your own Advent wreath, or gather five candles to count down the weeks to Christmas day (or even just have one candle that you light each Sunday). Traditionally we remember Abraham and Sarah (the patriarchs and matriarchs) on Advent 1, the prophets on Advent 2, John the Baptist on Advent 3 and the blessed virgin Mary on the last Sunday of Advent.In the last week the government has announced that communal worship will be allowed in churches, and we also know now that Devon is in Tier 2 with most of the rest of the country. The current response to this on the Church of England web site is as follows:The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, has welcomed the publication of the Government's Covid-19 Winter Plan, detailing that places of worship will be permitted to reopen for public worship from 2nd December.Bishop Sarah, who Chairs the Church of England's Recovery Group, said: "We are encouraged by the confirmation that places of worship will soon be able to reopen for public worship in all tiers and in all parts of the country."Churches and cathedrals can now approach Advent and Christmas with more certainty; a time when we know many people will look forward to attending services celebrating the birth of Jesus."We await more detailed guidance and will update our own advice once this is published." The plan in this diocese is that the Archdeacons will brief clergy on the updated advice on December 2nd and I will continue my conversations with Church Wardens and PCCs once I have recieved that full briefing. <div>In the meantime, I will be sending out the link for the Zoom Advent tea shortly, and will catch up with emails that have been awaiting me while I was on leave, as swiftly as is possible. Let's keep one another, our communities and all those who are suffering in our prayers.The Archbishops' prayer for the nation this week is:Loving God,your Son Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it abundantly;pour out your blessing upon our nation;where there is illness,bring your healing touch;where there is fear,strengthen us with the knowledge of your presence;where there is uncertainty,build us up in faith;where there is dishonesty,lead us into truth;where there is discord,may we know the harmony of your love;this we ask in Jesus’ name.Amen. God bless, Samantha
Dear Friends,This weekend brings us to the end of the Church year, with the feast of Christ the King. It is perhaps reflective of so much this year that we will each be worshipping in our own homes. This year we have shared, as a whole nation and in our local communities, levels of uncertainty and anxiety that are often only felt privately by people going through hard times. While we celebrate Christ as King we cannot dismiss either our personal suffering or the challenges in our world, rather, I think Jesus’ invitation is to contemplate the mystery at the heart of our faith that through his entering into our suffering and death and coming to resurrection, Jesus has shown us that the power of God’s love can hold the Creation in and through all that is not God’s will for it, and bring newness of life. May this feast inspire us to hold our nation in prayers of hope and love at this time. This week’s prayer for use at 6pm is at the end of this letter.As we look toward Advent, naturally our thoughts turn towards planning for Christmas and as so much national discussion shows, what will be possible is still unclear but there is hope that by the first week in December we will be in a better position to know what is going to be possible for us as church communities to offer in worship together. I hope to arrange some Zoom meetings with PCCs after I have been briefed by our Archdeacons. I know Zoom can be a little daunting to some, which is why I use it sparingly, but I think we have reached a time when we need to have a regular means of practical meetings that don’t depend on us being able to meet face to face. To begin to make this a little less daunting I’d like to suggest an Advent Sunday Tea-Zoom at 3.30 – 4.00 next Sunday (29<sup>th</sup>). This will just be a chance to meet others socially, and try out the technology without having to worry that we are transacting business. If you would like to try it out let me know and I will send out individual invitations next Saturday.I was due to take some annual leave through the middle of this week. With the regulations as they are I am not going away to see family – but I will be taking a break from phone and email between Monday-Friday this week. If there is anything you urgently need to talk to me about, do try and contact me over this weekend.God bless,SamanthaLord Jesus Christ, in these dark and difficult days, we turn our hearts to you. In ages past, you have delivered our nation from disaster. Do it again, we pray. Give wisdom beyond human wisdom to our leaders, Give strength beyond human strength to the NHS and all our frontline workers. Give comfort beyond human comfort to the elderly and all who grieve. Lord Jesus Christ, in these dark and difficult days, turn your face towards us, have mercy upon us, and heal our land, we pray. Amen.
